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Jun 28, 2006 19:41:15 GMT
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*Gets all defensive about his new car* Why do you say that? I think the 2.3 Cologne is a fine power plant. I'm amazed at how refined the car is. Its actually quieter (road & engine noise) than my '91 325! But it growls when it wants to thanks to the K&N. No offense intended - still a nice car and I am still jealous! I suppose it depends what you want and I imagine the old 2.3's are good for smoking about with - not much BHP for the weight and fuel consumption though? I'd personally rather have a well set up 2 litre pinto because they make about the same power with less petrol and also weigh less, but the torque and the soundtrack would be somewhat lacking I guess! As a side point, one thing we find with the 2.3 tough as old boots as a banger racing engine - they will rev harder than a 2.8 and not blow up as easily, which is nice. If you can find one cheap, might be worth trying a 38 DGAS weber off a 3.0 on the 2.3 - it's a straightforward swap and give good results - may need to check jet sizes but you can probably look that up somewhere on the net.
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Hirst
Posted a lot
This avatar is inaccurate, I've never shaved that closely
Posts: 3,930
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Jun 28, 2006 20:42:25 GMT
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Back to tyres for a moment, my Mira was running on the factory Bridgestones with 30K on them, legal but really pretty low and in need of changing, they still gripped excellently! But I changed them for MOT to some newer ones I had spare (same wheel design and tyre size) - two Goodyear GT2s on the front nearly brand new tread and two Yokohamas on the back with probably 80% tread. The grip and handling then went awful, feels like you're skating on ice, with the old nearly dead Bridgestones they felt really connected to the road. I've no idea why, the tyre pressures are all dead on as I used to have them. Mixed tyres? Not run in properly? Thoughts?
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Jun 28, 2006 21:28:58 GMT
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Balance of grip didn't suit I suppose? Were the yokis directionals? I'm not a big fan of directional tyres on the back of old RWD cars, especially the kind with "V" shape treads - they seem to grip like glue under lateral load with no acceleration, but break away very easily when you put the power down. I would guess a lot of them are really intended more for FWD cars where there is more weight over them?
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Hirst
Posted a lot
This avatar is inaccurate, I've never shaved that closely
Posts: 3,930
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Jun 28, 2006 22:10:15 GMT
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Nope not directionals as far as I'm aware! I might try switching the fronts to the rears to see if it works better the other way round? To be fair the tread patterns do look radically different between the two types of tyres, I just assumed being on different axles they should be OK? Was really just to pass MOT to be honest, getting all new tyres when I can be bothered refurbishing a set of wheels. <- These are the ones!
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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Jun 28, 2006 22:27:57 GMT
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Wheels are 6" wide right? 185/60s (or 175/50s if you want it to look good too! ) Do not go bigger on 6" rims as you will do more harm than good.
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They don't look like directionals, but try swapping them over front to back as you said I guess - it won't cost anything!
Also as Slater said if the wheels are too narrow for the tyres they will pinch them and only the centre of the tyre will be in contact.
Are any of the tyres second hand? If so how old are they? I drive a deeply boring Rover 216 at the moment which was fitted with normal non-sporting Michellin Energy tyres all round with about 30% wear left in them. I puntured the NSF and swapped it for a brand new factory fit Dunlop out of the boot of a scrapper - the grip was appalling - wheespin very easily in second gear out of left hand bends, and locked under braking too; and I don't really drive very fast. I ended up putting it on the NSR instead which has changed the handling so that it is now tail happy on wet right hand bends. I'm guessing that the tyre had sat in the boot of the scrap car since it left the factory and gone hard.
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